4.0 Update #1

[Danny 2232]

Hello ladies and manlyfolks,

 

Rather than writing an actual newsletter this month, I've decided that I'm instead going to just make this ‘4.0 Update’ so you’re in the loop about our upcoming map.

 

With 4.0, we’re aiming to actually get the server back to what it once was. In order to do that, we’re having to look at ‘What made it brilliant in the past?’ and also ‘Where did we go wrong?’. We've already made numerous final calls on different aspects of 4.0, with more to come and we’re also delighted to have Native and Freya on board for working on 4.0 with us! 

 

The aim is to make the server not only a fun place to roleplay on, but a fun place to actually play on. So, as well as the map, we're changing various mechanics and systems with the intention of doing that.

 

When we were working on creating Anthos, we had it in our minds that we were going to create the perfect map - Anthos could've been that, but unfortunately, staff changes and also a general loss of sight of the original idea meant that it wasn't and it didn't do what we wanted it to do. We’re not going to be making that mistake again:- we’re getting our focus’ sorted before we even take it into a build server and we’re making all these decisions now so we don’t rush them in the end.

 

But, what are these decisions?

 

Firstly, we've obviously made the necessary call on regioning. We ain't gonna have mass regioning at all on the map. You’ll see the capitals regioned, spawn regioned, the (main) roads regioned and also perhaps some landmarks also regioned: that is it. If you set up a village, city or town it won’t be regioned - only the capital cities will. We do also intend on reintroducing some form of ‘VIP plot’ (for Diamond VIP+) where they can get a small region of their own land (as in, enough for one building at the lowest rank of VIP, and it increases the higher you are but still remains as a small VIP plot). This means that we’ll have centralised RP in the middle of the map, in the regioned capitals as that’s where people will be most safe - affordable housing and the actual RP hub of the area will also encourage centralisation. However, in addition to that, we will be introducing some form of villainous restriction gradient from the middle of the map outwards:- the further you go, the lesser the restrictions so that people don’t just go and build things in the unregioned depths of the map, as it simply won't be safe.

 

Secondly, on to what nations we’ll really recognise. The way we've decided we’ll do this is we’ll have our four main nations (each will be considered as one nation, with one capital -- we wont have multiple nations for a race being considered ‘nations’):- Humans, Elves, Orcs and Dwarves. In addition to them, we’ll also have three other races getting land who are the: Kharajyr, High Elves and Halflings. We will not give regioned cities and recognise any other nations except one from these races. If you try and set up a second human nation, sure, but you won’t get it regioned -- simple. The four main nations will be given a larger area for their capital than the smaller nations. If any small race / minor race isn't happy that they aren't getting land in 4.0: sorry, but we can’t cater to every one of you -- these are our primary races, and that’s how it stays, we can’t have 1000 different nations. That means those Humans are gonna need to hurry up and get themselves into one Kingdom!

 

With regards to these cities:- we will have prebuilding on the map, however, it is going to be limited to New Abresi sized / Aegisian prebuild rather than the original Anthos prebuild (e.g. original Abresi). That means there’ll be under 20 buildings in each city to start with, anyone who doesn't manage to get a home in the city will have access to the capital’s camp-site. Why are we doing this? Well, we didn't have any prebuild in Asulon and I don’t think I truly need to describe how awful that was. With Anthos we went OTT with prebuild despite initially agreeing to keep it small - so this time, we’re literally taking the middle ground, which is what Aegis had on the server’s release. We won’t be allowing large build teams onto the map, and indeed, we don’t actually know who we’ll be allowing on quiet yet -- that’s still to be decided.

 

We’re also going to be making items actually more available to your average Joe than they are now. Back in Aegis and indeed the first part of Asulon items were easily accessible for just about everyone. You could easily get anything: diamonds for 200 minas, a load of iron for cheap prices, bread cheap - and this meant that people were less inclined to get upset about losing items, and it did really result in less OOC drama as a result of people losing things. The attempts at introducing a realistic economy to the server really have floundered, so we’re aiming to reduce these attempts in the interest of actually making the server more entertaining for you. We’re not exactly clear how we’ll do this, but we know that we’re going to do this.

 

We have also made a decision on the antagonist that we’re going to have in 4.0. It’s going to be something (I hope) most of you are happy about, and others might not be: however it’s undoubtedly going to be a fantastic thing for the server to focus on and will definitely mean that nations will be working together rather than fighting amongst each other, so we’ll see less drama as a result of that. We’re still working on the details of this antagonist, and you’ll need to actually wait for 4.0 to find it out as we’re hardly going to tell you much about them right now...

 

We’ve still got a giant list of decisions to make for 4.0: plugins, mines, resources, shops, horses, combat -- and so much more. I’ll release another of these ‘updates’ next time we make a group of decisions for the upcoming map, and we’ll see how things go from there. 

 

ETA for 4.0? No idea. Don’t want to guess. Don’t want to get anyone's hopes up. The release date could be anything from some point this year until a few months into next year. Of course, the later is a worst case scenario - we expect it sooner than that, but things can always go wrong.

 

So, in essence, 4.0 is an attempt for us to ‘Return to Our Roots’ and will hopefully encourage our older players who left due to our mistakes over time to return, and also result in more new players coming onto the server as well, of course, as you guys hanging around and experiencing it with us.

 

Remember, we’re making 4.0 so that it’s the best Realm for you guys to be in:- if you have any ideas about what should be in it, head on over to the 4.0 Ideas forum and post them! We've read them so far, and we've taken them into account when making the decisions I've said above, so go and post some more for us to have a read of.

 

Just a couple of other things to note (un-4.0 related):

• Freya's now a Developer, yay!
• We've got an automated 'Senior Staff' list.
• That's it.

 

Now, something I want to hear from you guys on. If I were to give you the opportunity to name 4.0 : what would you call it? It needs to start with an ‘A’ and be Greek - can’t break tradition! Check out this page which we've used to choose names for all our other maps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_words_with_English_derivatives! I'm sure you’ll find it useful. Post your ideas below.

 

And like that, this update is completed. Cheers for reading, and have a great day - feel free to discuss the post below and ask any questions, but if you do I expect to see a suggested name as well!

 

Danny Out.

 

[PicassoPotato 63]

First

 

Neat ideas here, can't wait to hear about the new antag!

[mmat 7460]

[Evilbanana5757 154]

Yay! :D

[gam 386]

4TH.

[Samsan99 274]

Looks awesome ^,^ cant wait

[Goliath 384]

If plots return I will make it my goal to donate another £100 as thanks

[Augor 142]

I... don't know how I feel on all of these changes. I adore some, and others are just.. meh. 

 

I feel as if completely denying someone the ability to region a nation if they get the people in game, and have the roleplay behind it is just silly. It's limiting roleplay quite a bit in that manner.

 

Also, if we are unregioning so much there HAS to be people wandering around and making sure everything doesn't turn into a massive shanty town as it did in Aegis. 

[monkeypoacher 8055]

Oh, feedback on names? :o

 

Well, there's Agalma, which means glory, honor, or delight. 

Or Adelos, which means unknown, or obscure.

 

Those are my two suggestions.

[Pastor Petrus 9]

A-mazing!

[Silent™ 552]

Yay!

[Danny 2232]

If plots return I will make it my goal to donate another £100 as thanks

 

You'd better raise that £100 then. :-)

 

 

I... don't know how I feel on all of these changes. I adore some, and others are just.. meh. 

 

I feel as if completely denying someone the ability to region a nation if they get the people in game, and have the roleplay behind it is just silly. It's limiting roleplay quite a bit in that manner.

 

Also, if we are unregioning so much there HAS to be people wandering around and making sure everything doesn't turn into a massive shanty town as it did in Aegis. 

 

You don't need regions to be a nation. If they want to be a nation, they're free to - but we're keeping regioning to these groups because we want to centralise the roleplay to them.

 

There of course will be the GM team (and the possibility of others) sprinting around keeping an eye out for land-scarring and horrible things, but we rely on you guys reporting it as well!

[Blundermore 2741]

 

On another note,

 

VIP plots, is that going to be a thing near cities? I thought that putting more stuff into the VIP donation perks may make donating more like it was in Aegis again. 

[Nug 2011]

So long. o-o

[Geo 1415]

You know what comes after 4?  5!  5.0 confirmed!!!

 

Also jurassic park 4 antag please